


Triumvirate

by jackdawq



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-08
Updated: 2013-07-08
Packaged: 2017-12-18 03:37:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/875168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackdawq/pseuds/jackdawq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>March 21st, on the wrong timeline, and Izanami's three chosen reflect on the paths (not) taken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Triumvirate

It's not Inaba Adachi hates. It's the path he stumbled down, the fact that he - the best and brightest - was crumpled and thrown aside like scrap paper because of one lousy mistake.  Inaba's just the location for his purgatory, or should have been. Instead, one year here proved more fascinating than his other twenty-seven combined, even if he still doesn't know where his new talents came from.  
  
(Nor does he know why he has them, though the reason's simple: Adachi _is_ scrap paper, a flimsy cut-out in the rough shape of a man, and Izanami prefers puppets who crumble and burn.)

Coffee in hand, he walks along the corridor and into Dojima's cluttered office. "Here you go, Dojima-san."

Just the right level of earnest stupidity. Dojima grabs the coffee, takes a swig, grimaces. "Thanks," he mutters.

Adachi smiles at him. "The trial starts tomorrow. Ready for it?"  
  
March has rolled around already and, truth be told, the past couple of months have been pretty boring. December - most of which Adachi spent at the hospital, waiting for Seta and his ministers of grace to descend upon the corridors - turned out to be a fucking riot. They got the wrong guy. Seta screwed up. Shirogane, too, which just cracks Adachi up. A detective's nephew and a precocious brat.

It's Shirogane who's causing problems now. Seta – well, Seta's handled. And Seta leaves today.

Every night, Adachi looks at the number in his phone and almost bursts out laughing.

"Provided Shirogane doesn't cause a scene, yeah," Dojima says. "Wish they didn't want her as a witness."

Shirogane thinks Namatame's innocent. Pretty smart for a stuck-up bitch, but people love the easy answer and nobody's going to listen to a kid who contradicts that. Like she understands a damn thing beyond casework anyway.  
  
See, Adachi was raised well, raised by a plan. Wake up. Go to school. Study hard. Then after that, do it all again: wash your face, drink your coffee, go to work. He bought into the most fundamental illusion of all, that you can master your own life. That hard work alone will take you right to the top, never mind talent, good looks, dumb luck. Bullshit. Truth is, it's all a fucking game - and he's no Namatame, insisting with the conviction of insanity that he was doing the Right Thing. But evil's a loaded word. Evil's a judgment, which implies there's someone fit to act as judge.

Seta almost, almost took on that role, but he was easier to sway than Adachi had ever imagined. A little dose of friendship, a few awkward moments of insecurity, and Seta lapped it up. Helping people – trying to _fix_ them – leaves you wide open. All it took was the right person.  
  
"It'll be fine, Dojima-san", Adachi tells him, because it will. It'll all be fine - and from here on out, it's going to get interesting.

(That night, Adachi sleeps dreamlessly for the first time in a year, heedless of the ghosts trailing in his wake. When he wakes, the world tastes hollow - but hey, it always did.)

 

* * *

 

He didn't do it.

Kidnapping's a crime, Namatame knows that, but he never killed anyone. He was trying to _save_ people, just like he told those teenagers that back in the hospital. Or at least he thinks he did. It's hard to remember anything from that time. But let's say he _did_ tell them. Why is he in a cell awaiting trial? Maybe nobody believed them. Maybe they stayed quiet. Maybe he just dreamt them bursting into his room as one and tugging out the entire story in stammered, fractured pieces. The boy, Seta – something about him made Namatame want to tell the truth. He seemed kind. Trustworthy.

Namatame never killed anyone. Never. He just put them in the TV, because it was supposed to be safe there and because they kept coming back alive when he did. He's tried to explain over and over, to the point where his lawyer's told him that unless he wants to plead insanity (of course not) he'd better shut the hell up. But they have to _understand_ , the Midnight Channel never told him what was really inside, what might be there even now, and if he'd just known—

Except somebody _did_ know. Namatame will never know who they are, and the knowledge is crushing: a rock upon his chest, shattering his ribs.

That's the difference. Mayumi's killer knew what would happen. Namatame didn't. And he never killed anyone.

(He never killed anyone, but he can't stand to think how close he came.)

Okina Penitentiary is cold and grey, row after row of cells. He's in here with murderers, though it wasn't even kidnapping when he was just trying to—

The cell door swings open. "Namatame. Outside."

The guard cuffs his hands. Namatame leaves his cell in silence.

 

* * *

 

Time is infinite, circular. You know that - which means you might be able to fix this.

You know you've made a mistake. You trusted the wrong person. Convinced yourself that there was a reason behind Adachi's actions and lied to your friends instead. You met with Adachi yesterday, and all you remember is the smell of burning paper and his laughter ringing in your ears. At the time it'd seemed like the only thing to do, the only way to save him from jail.

One day later, you wonder why you wanted that so much. One day later, you've already had your first midnight call.

Adachi regaled you with the full detail of exactly what he did: how Mayumi Yamano rejected him, that frigid bitch, so he had to shove her in, and how Saki Konishi was a slut who deserved everything she got. How he conned Namatame into conducting the kidnappings, just because he could. You didn't sleep all night.

When your uncle comes home late from the station, exhausted from chasing leads that go nowhere, you think of the letter on the interrogation room table. When Naoto's almost yelling at you for dropping the case, you think of a not-quite-boy in a lab coat, sobbing about being needed and raging that nobody ever listens. When you see Namatame on the television, proclaiming his innocence – he never killed anyone, never, never – you think of nothing at all.  
  
(What Namatame doesn't know is that he _did_ kill, twice - Yukiko and Naoto both - but time is infinite, circular, and you have a knack for changing history.)

When Adachi comes over for dinner, like he did last night, you think of bodies hanging high among the rooftops. But that's okay. Time is circular. This was the wrong path and it'll be reversed. Same as the other times.

The front door clicks open and your uncle walks into the living room. "You ready to go?"

You nod and grab your suitcase. There's the usual pleasantries – come visit any time, say hi to your parents – before Dojima grabs your other bag and heads toward the front door. You're already by the car when he speaks again.

"The trial starts tomorrow," he says. "Your friend Shirogane thinks Namatame is innocent."

You say nothing.

"You took a call late last night. Thought I heard you discussing the case." Dojima opens the car door, but stops halfway, hand still gripping the top. "Was it Shirogane?"

"Yes."

Dojima hums to himself. He's still holding the car door half-open. Then he shakes his head and gets into the car, just as your phone beeps with a text message. Adachi's number.

_Have a good trip home. Don't worry, I'll make sure to keep in touch - partner._

You wait for the world to unravel and rewind. It doesn't.


End file.
